The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) just released for comment a draft guide –Community Resilience Planning Guide for Buildings and Infrastructure – to help communities plan and act to keep windstorms, floods, earthquakes, sea-level rise, industrial mishaps and other hazards from inflicting disastrous consequences. The official first version of the guide will be released this fall and updated periodically.
The guide lays out a six-step process that starts with the formation of a resilience team drawn from the community and culminates with the development and implementation of resilience strategies that are updated regularly. The resilience team's role is to engage community representatives in a series of efforts that include defining how vital social functions like healthcare, education and public safety are supported by local buildings and infrastructure systems, such as power, water and transportation.
The draft was prepared based on private and public sector input, including feedback from hundreds of participants at workshops across the country over the past year that included officials of communities of varying sizes and facing multiple hazards. The 60-day public review began April 27 and closes June 26. Links and details can be found on NIST's Community Disaster Resilience Program website.